


#kylothekiller

by crossingwinter



Series: #kylothekiller [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff with dogs, in which the author is very amused with the creative liberties, she gets to take when she turns Kylo into a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 02:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13515000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/pseuds/crossingwinter
Summary: It’s not the first time that Rey has seen Kylo pop up in her Fido stream, but itisthe first time she’s clicked on him fast enough to be scheduled for a meet and greet with dog and owner on Saturday.





	#kylothekiller

**Author's Note:**

  * For [porcelaindakota](https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelaindakota/gifts).



> For Laika, the pupper who inspired this, and Morgan who answered my questions about what the fuck dog ownership is actually like.
> 
> Thanks once again to [V](http://thereminnsonata.tumblr.com) for betaing!

It’s not the first time that Rey has seen Kylo pop up in her Fido stream, but it _is_ the first time she’s clicked on him fast enough to be scheduled for a meet and greet with dog and owner on Saturday. 

It doesn’t surprise her that she’s not been fast enough for him before—his owner will pay at least three times as much as anyone else’s dog for a week’s worth of walks.  Either the dog is a pampered prince or a nightmare, and Rey is about to find out which one it is.

When she rings the doorbell, she hears barking—loud angry barking.  _Nightmare, then,_ Rey thinks.

“Kylo, down,” she hears a low voice saying through the door—not shouting, but sounding firm all the same.  “Easy.  Sit.  Sit….Sit.  Good boy.”

Then the door opens and before she can really take in what she’s seeing, she hears barking again.  “Kylo.”  His voice never raises to a shout as his giant black dog barks intensely at her.  His large hand is secured firmly in his mutt’s red collar.  “Sorry,” he says.  “He’s a bit…come on in.”

Rey skirts dog and owner and the door closes behind her.  Then she crouches down and extends a hand.  “Hey Kylo,” she says gently.  “Smell?”

Abruptly, Kylo stops barking.  He tilts his head and extends his snout, sniffing tentatively at her hand.

“He’s a rescue,” the owner, Ben the app had told her, says by way of explanation, his hand still firmly on Kylo’s collar.  “And he’s really flighty around strangers.  Fear turns into aggression pretty fast.”

“How old?” she asks, not taking her eyes off the dog while he’s still deciding what to make of her.  He’s definitely got pitbull in him, but she has no idea what other kinds of dog might be in there.

“The vet _thinks_ he’s three, but we could be wrong.”

“How long have you had…?” Rey asks.  The question dies in her throat because Kylo has lunged forward and Ben’s already intoning, “ _Kylo_ ,” but he’s licking her hand with an unexpected fervor. 

“Hey good boy,” Rey coos.  She looks up at Ben, really looking at his face for the first time and takes in big brown eyes, floppy dark hair, and thick red lips.  He’s looking totally stunned.  “Is there any place I shouldn’t pet?” she asks.  She’s worked with rescues before.

“Not his belly,” Ben tells her.  “I wasn’t going to warn you about it because I didn’t think you’d get that far, but he’s never done this with a dog walker before, so…”

“Done what?”

“Started aggressively licking one.”

Kylo is still licking—he’s worked his way from her hand up her arm. 

“Do you like my lotion, you silly boy?” Rey asks, using her free hand to pet his head, scratching behind his floppy dark ears.  Immediately he transferred his attention to her other wrist since it’s close to his snout now too, and Rey bursts out laughing as he tries to push his tremendous weight over her, but isn’t quite able because Ben’s still got his hand in Kylo’s collar.  His tail is wagging violently now, and Rey bends and kisses the top of the dog’s head.

“So I take it I’m hired?” she teases.  “If he likes me this fast.”

Ben is still looking totally blown away by the whole experience.  “Yeah.  Honestly I should propose marriage or something.”

“Shouldn’t we at least shake hands first?”

“Ahh right.  Ben Solo.”  He extends a hand.

“Rey Knightley.”  He has a firm grip, and he half smiles in a way that suits his face when Kylo licks his way towards their grasped hand.

“If I let him go, will you freak out?  He really can be pretty…”

“Aggressive?” Rey asks, doing her best to keep her bemusement out of her voice because the only thing this beast of a dog seems to be aggressive about with her is kissing every inch of her skin he can get his big dumb tongue on.  Ben grimaces, and Rey laughs.  “I figured given how much you pay people for a week of walks.”

“Yeah, he drives them off pretty fast.  I’m hoping he’ll be ok when I’m not here.”  He releases Kylo’s collar and the dog scoots himself closer to Rey, tail wagging wildly, licking up her arms until he’s nuzzling between her bare bicep and her breast in a way that makes Rey giggle.  He has very soft ears, and a big old nose and he’s really quite adorable when he’s not barking ferociously with his hackles raised.

“I’ll wear the same lotion,” Rey jokes and winks up at Ben.

* * *

Ben’s anxiety spikes as it always does on Mondays. 

Every Monday, for the past few months, there’s been a new dog walker for Kylo.  Every Monday, around noon, he gets a message through the Fido app that the walker has arrived, he unlocks his door remotely from his phone, and then sits there for thirty minutes, anxious as all fuck about whether or not his dog has ripped the throat out of the dog walker.  He usually gets a reply when it’s over.  _He’s rough,_ is a standard. 

But none of them had had as good an introduction to Kylo as Rey.

 _Please just be good,_ he wills at his dog through his phone.  _Please._

 _I’m here,_ Rey texts him through the app.

He lets her in, and takes a deep breath, and turns back to his code.  Working through lunch on new dog walker days is another Monday tradition, because if he has to go find something to eat he thinks the nerves will make him sick.

He’d gotten Kylo at the recommendation of his therapist.  _“It’ll be good for you—develop a nurturing relationship with someone who won’t leave you, and someone who will love you unconditionally without judging how open you are about your trauma_. _”_   He likes to think it’s helping.  Kylo gets him walking twice a day—he had already been active, but pumping iron at the gym wasn’t the same as fresh air and sunshine as he keeps a firm hand on his leash and keeps Kylo as close to him as possible.  He’d seen his dog catch and kill a squirrel that had been jumping through the air.  He is remarkably graceful when he was on the hunt. 

The shelter Ben had gotten Kylo at had warned him that it might not be the best pairing—Kylo had been rescued from an abusive home, and was wary of strangers—especially males.  But the dog had gotten used to him relatively quickly, especially since Ben was very careful around him.

It feels kind of nice, actually—being gentle with someone who’d had a rough life.  It feels a little like being gentle with himself, something his therapist is always trying to convince him to do.  Kylo also snuggles next to him in his bed when he is sleeping, which is another major plus. 

That, of course, doesn’t prevent Kylo from being an absolute monster to every other person he’d met and his dad had ended up in the emergency room because Kylo had attacked him (which Ben and his therapist had subsequently spent like five sessions on). 

And Rey…well he’d never seen Kylo react to even _him_ the way he’d reacted to Rey.  _Please just don’t be an asshole._

Rey has a nice smile, and is kind of pretty, and most importantly had taken Kylo’s ridiculousness pretty well in stride.  He hardly dared _hope_ that she might become a regular dog walker, but the second that Kylo had started licking the crap out of her, he’d be lying if he said that that hope hadn’t blossomed in him.

 _Code,_ he tells himself.  _Come on._ But he keeps checking his phone for an update.

The update comes at about twelve forty-five, a link to an Instagram picture.

It’s a selfie of Rey and Kylo at the park with the caption, _Apparently he’s a monster to most of his walkers, but I’ve lulled him into submission with my soft skin #kylothekiller #helikesmylavendersheabutter #dogsofinstagram #muttsofinstagram_

Ben sags with relief, and replies to the message in Fido.

_He was ok then?_

_Yup!  Total darling.  He was a bit nervous when I showed up but he remembered me just fine.  Still likes my lotion_

_I should get some I guess_

_Haha_

_I can make some for you if you like_

_You make your own lotion?_

_Listen, bulk shea butter is super cheap.  Add some lavender essential oil to that and you’re set_

_Good to know_

Ben feels like a huge weight’s been lifted off his chest, and he finally gets up to get himself something to eat.  He glances at the Instagram picture again that day.  It’s racking up likes and he sees a response from finn2187 saying _oh god I’ve heard about that dog.  He hasn’t murdered you, has he?_

_knightrey: hahaha he’s been sweet as a button with me.  I’m just better than everyone else I guess._

_finn2187:  I could have told you that._

Ben doesn’t have an Instagram account.  He’s not big on social media, since it triggers his social anxiety, but he’s sorely tempted to make one just to reply to the picture.  He squashes that impulse, though.

It doesn’t stop him from checking the picture a few more times that day.  Kylo looks good in it.  But it’s Rey’s shining eyes that he can’t stop looking at.

* * *

 

She worries after the third week of walking Kylo that Ben’s going to suggest dropping the fee of walking him down, but he doesn’t.  That’s fine with her.  Walking Kylo every day pays better than her on campus job and it means she gets to play with a dog.  She heeds Ben’s warning and never pets Kylo’s belly, even though he does present it sometimes when she’s letting him off the leash back in Ben’s house and is grabbing a treat to give him. 

The photos she posts of #kylothekiller on Instagram get more likes than all of her others.  Dog owners are thirsty for dog pictures, she has learned over the years—mostly from Poe who will share pictures of BB8 even when he isn’t prompted.  She always sends them to Ben, who seems appreciative of them.  Pictures of them by the lake, looking out over the water from Promontory Point or the 57th Street Beach, wandering around UofC’s campus because there’s some fun green space for him to play with and lots of squirrels to bark at, or just strolling up and down the streets near Ben’s house.  She parodies a series she’d seen on reddit a few years back of a guy being led around the world by his girlfriend by snapping pictures of the taught leash that Kylo is tugging her along on, and tagging them _#boyfriendsoinquisitive—_ a tag that she thinks amuses Ben when she sends it to him.

One Thursday, she takes Kylo out for a full two hours because she has errands to run and that evening, she gets a message from Ben in the app.

_What did you do to my dog?_

_Oh no—is something wrong?_

_He’s super docile.  How long were you out for?_

_A bit longer than usual.  Is that ok?  I didn’t clock it in since it was my bad planning_

_Yeah it’s just jarring.  You’ve lulled him into submission.  For a second I thought you’d soul-swapped him with another dog_

_Ahh he’s a sweetie_

_You are the only person who ever has or ever will say those words_

_I love him, but he’s not a sweetie_

_Sweet little killer monster with big old puppy dog eyes_

_Did I tell you about the time he killed a pair of pigeons?_

_No, but you don’t have to.  I’ve seen him hunt rabbits_

Rey grins at her phone. 

A moment later, a photo comes through the app, and it’s of Kylo curled up on the bed, his head resting on what seems to be Ben’s knee. 

_He’s out cold at 7pm on a weeknight.  This is unprecedented_

_Want me to take him out for longer more frequently?_

_Up to you_

_He doesn’t seem to mind_

_He’d probably die for you at this point_

Rey makes that the caption of her photo the next day.  _I took him out for too long yesterday, but it’s ok—his dad thinks he’d probably die for me so we’re good #kylothekiller #secretsoftie #lookatthoseeyestho #dogsofinstagram #muttsofinstagram_

She neglects to comment in the picture’s caption on how he started barking uncontrollably at a redheaded man with a pug who had gotten a little too close, scaring the poor little lapdog so much it had squealed and grunted and rolled its eyes Rey had had to drag Kylo away.  Instagram doesn’t need to know how vicious Kylo can still be.

* * *

Kylo’s getting calmer.

Ben doesn’t think that Kylo will _ever_ be calm, but he’s definitely getting calmer.  The consistency, Ben thinks, of having his owner and the same dog walker on a regular basis means that he only really has two safe people in his life, and won’t have to worry about strangers constantly coming into his home to take him out.

Ben begins to weigh working on training him better again.  He doesn’t think that he’ll ever be able to take the dog to an obedience school.  Hell—taking him to Pet Smart for grooming is always an experience and he’s always sure to tip the poor employees who are stuck with his thrashing monster very highly while also picking up new squeaky toys and bones and rawhide for Kylo to demolish when he gets home.

Kylo can sit on command—it’s just about the only thing he does consistently, and Ben teaches him to lie down next.

The first time that Kylo does it consistently, Ben snaps a picture of the puppy dog eyes, waiting for the treat that he knows is coming when Ben extends his hand and he sends it to Rey.

  _He’s getting there_

_Is he doing it?_

_Just did_

_Yes!  Good Kylo!  He’s a good boy.  Tell him from me._

“Rey says you’re a good boy,” he tells Kylo as he gives him the treat and he swears to god, the dog’s ears perk up and he looks around. 

Ben sighs.  “Yeah, me too,” he murmurs as he pets Kylo’s head.

He can admit it to Kylo—Kylo won’t tell anyone.  He likes Rey’s cheeriness, likes that she likes his monstrous dog, likes…her.  It’s dumb.  She’s an undergrad and he’s pushing thirty and has been working for years now and feels more than a bit like a lecherous old man but the pictures she posts of her hugging his dog…it feels a bit like she’s hugging him.

_I think he knows your name, he just got very excited when I told him_

He texts her because he can’t stop himself, because he’s gotten to that point where he wants to know what he thinks but doesn’t really know what to do with it.  Part of him wants to tell his therapist about it so that either his therapist can talk him out of this weird crush or help him figure out what the fuck to do about it.  But instead he tugs at the knotted rope in Kylo’s teeth now, trying not to imagine Rey laughing and kissing the top of Kylo’s head, egging him on and telling him that he’s a killer, he can beat his dumb master, he can do it for her, can’t he, can’t he?  Good boy.

_Good my plan is working_

_Are you trying to steal my dog from me?_

_No—just trying to make it so he can’t live without me so you keep paying me three times the going rate to walk him obviously_

Ben snorts at that.

_You just like the bump in instagram followers_

_You caught me_

_You don’t care about my dog at all do you.  Just followers and money_

_Well I am a millennial_

_So am I_

_Yeah but you had dial up internet growing up and I had a smart phone in middle school_

_Followers, money, and making me feel like an old man_

_Get off my lawn_

_But where will I take cute pictures of your dog for the instagram followers?_

_There’s probably an instagram filter for that_

_No, you’re thinking of snapchat filters.  Don’t you work in tech?_

_A clever front from my real job: murder_

_So THAT’s why kylo’s the way he is_

_Yeah, at night I set him on unsuspecting strangers_

_Don’t tell the police or it’ll jeopardize your pay_

_Your secret’s safe with me_

* * *

She’s been walking Kylo for about five months when she sees Ben again for the first time since she’d met him that first day.

_I came home early because I’m sick.  Don’t get freaked out if I’m there when you get back_

The text is in her app, under three pictures he’d sent her the day before of Kylo ripping to shreds the Darth Vader squeaky toy that she’d gotten him for no reason other than the fact she was amused that Darth Vader squeaky toys existed.  She hasn’t sent Ben the Instagram link to the picture she’d taken of Kylo that day, staring majestically at the lake, the wind ruffling his hair, his eyes watering slightly.  _Either he’s reexamining all his life choices and coming to terms with being dubbed #kylothekiller or he’s planning global domination.  Not sure which is scarier.  #stillmybootho #dogsofinstagram #muttsofinstagram_

_Can I pick you up some soup or anything?  We’re about to head back_

_I ordered some from grubhub but thanks_

When she gets back to Ben’s house and lets Kylo off his leash, instead of hurrying to his water bowl, or whining for pets and treats, he trots over to the bedroom at the back of the apartment.  Rey follows him there and finds Ben lying on the bed, looking blankly at a television where he’s watching some home restoration show.

“Can I get you anything?” she asks.  “Water?  Nyquil?”

Kylo has climbed on the bed and is whining as he rests his head on Ben’s chest.

“I’m fine,” he tells the dog.  “Stop worrying, I’m fine.”  He looks at Rey.  “Thanks—I think I’m good.”

Rey’s watching them.  She hasn’t seen them together before, beyond the pictures that Ben sometimes sends her.  They never have his face in them though because Kylo is clearly more important to him than his own face.  She has never seen the way that Kylo curls protectively around Ben or the way that Ben rests his face on Kylo’s head for a second. 

“Are you sure?  Don’t want to upset Kylo and he seems distressed by your being sick.”

Ben smiles wryly.  “He’ll get over it.  I’m not dying or anything.”

“I’d never thought to see him worry,” Rey says and Ben’s eyes land on hers.  He has such deep brown eyes, she realizes.  And his expression reminds her, oddly, of Kylo’s when Kylo is at his cuddliest.

“He and I worry after each other.  I think that’s why he tolerates me.  Kindred spirit.”

“You try climbing trees to kill squirrels too?”

He snorts.  He turns his attention back to Kylo and pats him on the side—carefully not on the belly.

“Therapy,” he says at last, so softly.  “He’s my therapy dog.  And I’m his therapy human.”

Rey’s chest constricts. 

She doesn’t know what Ben’s deal is—she doesn’t know him at all, really, knows his dog better than she knows him.  But something clicks into place that she’d always wondered at.  Kylo barks fastest at other men, he doesn't like it when strangers—especially big tall ones—approach him.  But his owner is a tall man, and somehow here he is, curled up against his chest, licking at his face because he could smell the sickness and the tiredness there.

Kylo is a smart dog—one of the smartest dogs that Rey has ever walked.  She could never be complacent for a moment with him.  Maybe he’d seen whatever it was that Ben needed in a therapy dog in his human, just as Ben found in him what he needed in a therapy dog.

“Do you want me to walk him later?” Rey asks.  “If you need to stay in bed or something.  I can hang around and do my homework here.”

Ben’s gaze returns to her and for all his lips are cracked and his face is pallid in the dim light of his curtained bedroom, she’s struck by how soft his expression is.

“Maybe,” he replies.  “I won’t know until I know.  I don’t want to keep you here if you’ve got places to be.”

“I only had morning classes today, so it’s no trouble.  I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah.  Thanks.  That’d be great then.”

Rey retreats back out to the living room and settles on the couch, digging her laptop out of her backpack and pulling up her readings for the afternoon. 

A little while later, Kylo emerges from the bedroom to go and have his post-walk drink.  He cocks his head when he sees her, confused about why she’s still there.  Then he comes over and hops onto the couch and begins licking her hand, working his way up her arm the way he always does, big wet sloppy dog kisses that extend all the way to her shoulder and then to her face.

* * *

He is the worst dog owner in the world.  The worst in the world.  He’s a terrible person, a complete failure of a human being.  He can’t even keep his dog safe and happy and it’s the one thing he feels like he’d been almost ok at in the past few months.

His hands are trembling as he shouts, “Kylo!” at the top of his lungs as he runs towards the lake.  In the distance, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the fireworks. 

Kylo’s always been strong, and smart.  Stronger and smarter than is helpful, really.  And Ben had heard dog owners chatting about how fireworks freak out their dogs.  He’d known this.  He’d _known_ it.  How had he been so stupid as to take his dog out?  Kylo doesn’t even like thunderstorms.

He runs his hands through his hair in dismay and shouts again, “ _Kylo_!” cupping his hands around his mouth so that his voice gets magnified.

But he sees no sign of his dog, just that he’d run towards the lake. 

Kylo wasn’t afraid of cars—what if he’d run onto the highway?

Ben feels sick.

He opens Fido because the only person he can think to tell, the only person who might care that his monstrous dog is missing, might end up hit by a car on a night where everyone’s celebrating independence and freedom is Rey.

_I was stupid and brought Kylo out tonight and he pulled his leash out of my hand and I don’t know what to do I don’t know where he is_

He texts his parents, texts his therapist because he’s a million percent sure he’ll need to talk about this one when he heads to her office during his lunch break on Tuesday, and is googling next steps when your dog goes missing when Rey replies with her phone number.  He calls it immediately.

“Hey—where are you?”

“I’m by the lake near the top of Harold Washington Park.”

“What direction did he take off in?” Rey asks.

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be there in a bit with my lotion.”

“Rey,” Ben gulps. 

“We’ll find him,” she says.  “Keep looking.  I’ll text you when I’m close.”

* * *

“Kylo!” she hears Ben shouting before she has finished locking her bike.  She runs towards him and he sees her before she has reached him.  In the light from the streetlamps, she can see that his eyes are red and puffy, that he’s been crying.  She steps towards him and wraps her arms around him and squeezes tightly, and a moment later he’s crying into her shoulder.

“He’s a complete fuck of a dog but I love him,” Ben sobs and Rey reaches a hand up to run through his hair.  It’s very soft, softer than she’d been expecting.  She shushes him while he cries.

When he lets go of her, she digs into her bag and produces a jar of her lavender shea butter.  “Put this on,” she tells him.  “I’m not exaggerating that he likes it.  Also lavender is calming.”

Ben opens the jar and smears some of it on his hands and arms.

“South,” Rey thinks.  “We’ll head south.  I usually take him south on walks and he’ll probably look for some place he likes, and some place he can hide from it.”

“Why doesn’t he run home?” Ben asks wetly and Rey takes his hand and squeezes it. 

“Because he’s not a rational creature.  Come on, let’s go.  Do you have a bike?”

Ben shakes his head.  “I’m a runner, though if you’re…”

Rey is still holding his hand when she takes off running, going as fast as she can.  She’s never gone running with Kylo, but she can imagine that he probably runs fast, especially when he’s freaked out.  She knows that Ben sometimes goes out jogging with him before or after work.

Ben overtakes her fast.  He’s the runner, not her, though she bikes almost everywhere she goes, and he seems to fly—his stride so wide that she has to take two steps for every one of his.  He keeps his hand in hers though as he runs and slows when he senses her growing tired.

“Keep going,” she pants at him.  And he does.  But a few steps ahead of her, he pauses and shouts for his dog again.

By the time he’s stopped calling, Rey has caught up and his hand finds hers again as he keeps running.

“He’ll just keep running,” he chokes out at her.  “He’ll just keep going and going and going until he’s in Indiana.  We run for miles sometimes and he doesn’t get tired.”

“How long before the fireworks stopped did he break loose?”

“I…I don’t remember.”

“I need to stop,” Rey tells him.  There’s a stitch in her side and she’s wheezing.  She can bike for miles, but she’s not a runner.  This was stupid.  She could have caught him up easily if she’d gone to get her bike from where she’d locked it.  But she hadn’t wanted to let go of his hand. 

“Are you ok?” Ben asks, standing over her.  She’s breathing deeply, the air hot and humid in her mouth and she doubles over, resting her hands on her knees.  She feels his hand running over her back.  It’s calming.  Is it calming him to do it?

Rey looks around.  They’ve gotten as far as Promontory Point, where she’s taken Kylo on countless walks and is embarrassingly close to where they’d started, even if they had been sprinting full-out. 

“Kylo!” she hears Ben call out and to her complete surprise there’s a bark.  “Kylo?”  His voice breaks halfway through and he’s gone and Rey stands up again and forces herself to keep going as she runs towards where the bark had come. 

Ben’s crouching down by the wide white building on the point and he’s extended both of his hands and is visibly trembling. 

“Kylo?  Buddy, is that you?”

He’s dug a hole for himself against the building—not quite big enough to hide his bulk but he’s definitely there, whining.  She kneels down next to Ben and holds her hands out to him as well. 

“The fireworks are done, they’re over.  I’m so sorry, buddy,” Ben chokes out. 

He reaches down and grabs Kylo’s leash and wraps it around his wrist, gripping tightly.  Then he begins petting Kylo’s ears. 

He sags against Rey as Kylo emerges from the hole and nuzzles himself into Ben’s arms.  Ben’s crying again and Rey helps them both to their feet.  She takes Ben’s free hand once again and leads the two of them back towards his house.

* * *

They let Kylo off the leash the second they’re in the door and the dog goes first for his water bowl.  Ben fetches his treats down from the shelf and gives him three, before Kylo disappears into the bedroom.  From the doorway, Ben watches as he burrows under the blankets in the center of his king-sized bed.

He feel’s Rey’s arms around him again.  “You got him back.  He’s back,” she whispers, her breath floating against his neck in the most wonderful way.  He turns to face her and before he really knows what he’s doing, he’s kissing her.  It starts off a frantic kiss, an instinctive one, a you helped me find my dog and were the only thing that kept me close to sane in the past few hours, but it steadies into something deeper because she reaches a hand up to cup his face, her thumb running over his cheek and lavender creeping into his nose.

“Thanks,” he whispers, leaning his forehead against hers.  “For everything.  For thinking he’s a good dog, for…for…”

Her lips find his again, but the kiss is quick this time.  “Can I make you some tea?” she asks.

He shakes his head.  “I…I should probably snuggle him for a while.”

He doesn’t want to let go of her, though. 

“Do you want me to stay?”

“I…I don’t want to force you to—”

“I’m offering.  What do you want?”

He kisses her again, slow, deep.  “Stay,” he whispers into her lips.

When they climb into his bed, they’re on each side of Kylo, their hands running over each other’s skin, over the dog’s fur.

* * *

The next morning when Rey wakes up in Ben’s bed, Kylo’s face nuzzled into her chest, she smiles.  She hadn’t really been _expecting_ him to kiss her, but it fit, somehow.  It fit the way that Kylo had liked her immediately, the way that she and Ben exchanged photos of his dog, the way that he’d messaged her first when Kylo had run off.

She pulls herself away from the dog, who opens an eye accusingly at her, and snaps a picture of the two of them.  She doesn’t post it immediately—she goes and fetches Kylo’s leash because if she’s here she might as well take him for a walk, but she’s already planning a caption.

_The boys had a rough night last night.  #kylothekiller is not a fan of fireworks and his dad doesn’t like it when his dog runs off on his own.  Everyone’s good now, though. #dogsofinstagram #muttsofinstagram #myboys #homesafeandsound_

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently Promontory Point is where George Lucas got married so cool there’s that.
> 
> Thanks for reading! You can find me [here](http://crossingwinter.tumblr.com/reylo) on tumblr.
> 
> This is the graphic I made for tumblr on this fic figured I'd share it out here as well! Moose is not exactly how I envision Kylo in this fic, but I also wouldn't use any other dog for such an image.  
> 


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